In addition to the Encinitas City Council’s public support for a statewide ban on disposable plastic grocery bags, they also agreed Wednesday night to move forward with a local ordinance, rather than waiting for the legislature to take action. According to UT San Diego:

The environment "can’t wait for the state to get its act together," Councilwoman Lisa Shaffer declared as she made a motion to direct city staff members to draft a bag ban ordinance. She asked for the ordinance to be similar to one approved by Solana Beach in 2012.

Encinitas city staff will prepare a draft ordinance, as well as environmental review documents, which means it won’t be voted on by the council until sometime in 2014.

Earlier this year the council declared its support for SB 405, a bill authored by Senator Alex Padilla, which would phase out plastic grocery bags statewide. The bill, which came up just three votes short in the Senate, will be brought back for reconsideration in 2014.

In the meantime, it’s great to see so many local governments deciding to move forward on their own to prevent the costly environmental and economic impacts created by the 13 billion plastic bags that are distributed in California each year.